It was nice to catch up with Olivia in last week's Fringe premiere, but the science-lite episode definitely left something to be desired -- namely more than two lines from Peter and Walter. (We met the Walternate quota, though. These are very different things.) Thankfully, in The Box, everyone's favorite LSD-addled, mad-scientist-and-son duo were back in the game as Peter dealt with some residual kidnapping-induced anger and Walter tried to get Gene the cow to produce chocolate milk. But unfortunately, filling the Walter void left a pretty big gap in the science. So how about that magical music box of death?
Scenario: In both universes there are elements of that ancient doomsday machine we learned about in last season's finale.
Plausibility: 10 of 10. If you have no trouble buying into the many-worlds theory, this makes plenty of sense. If the alt-world branched off at some point during the 20th century, it stands to reason that anything developed before that would be the same in both universes.
Scenario: Over here, part of the doomsday device is a box that emits dissonant sound at an ultrasonic frequency capable of increasing neural function to the point of death. Also, it makes your inner ears bleed.
Plausibility: 2 of 10. Walter's demonstration of harmonic sound versus dissonance lends him a little credibility, and maybe it's an amplitudinal thing, but... Oh, hang on a second. My ears are bleeding because of the dissonance between the 2.2 GHz hum of my laptop processor and the 2.4 GHz frequency of my wireless router signal. (If any physicists out there want to elucidate this, take it away.)
Scenario: In an attempt to protect himself from the violently silent hum of the music box, Olivia temporarily deafens Peter by discharging her gun next to his ear.
Plausibility: 7 of 10. The plausibility of this really hinges on how much you buy into the high-frequency dissonance theory. Assuming you do, I really think this would deafen Peter for longer than the three minutes Walter suggests.
Scenario: Bolivia is in charge of the alt-world effort over here. Thomas Jerome Newton is her bitch, and she's got a mean WPM on that two-way typewriter.
Plausibility: 10 of 10. Becoming Bolivia is probably one of the coolest things Olivia has ever done. She's pretty much completely unsympathetic (especially when she shoots unknowing deaf men in the back of the head), but dammit if she isn't about 20 times more interesting.
On that note, how are we feeling about the Peter/Olivia-Bolivia dynamic? Do you buy them as a couple? Because I've always thought of them more as siblings.